"reflect the change of status in that year. The anvil represents the famous Blacksmith's Shop wedding site at Gretna Green, and the thistles represent the club's Scottish location. Gretna F.C. 2008 Gretna Football Club 2008 (commonly referred to as Gretna 2008 and colloquially as Gretna) is a football club from the town of Gretna. It was founded in 2008 after the bankruptcy and demise of Gretna, which had existed since 1946. Gretna 2008 is not a direct continuation of the old club, being under a completely different management and set-up; the club trades under the name ""Gretna FC 2008 Ltd"""
"saddler, an ironmonger and a boot maker. When he moved to Gretna, he initially set himself up as a saddler and opened a cafe, before being taken on by Hugh Mackie, the manager of the Old Blacksmith's Shop. Rennison died on 5 August 1969 at Haltwhistle, Northumberland. Before 1940, marriage in Scotland was based on Celtic customs, rather than Catholic religious customs. As such, marriage only required a couple to agree to be married in front of witnesses. The simplicity of these ""irregular marriages"" meant that they were used by couples who wished to elope, and Gretna Green became a"
"Reformation, ""Irregular marriage"", without a church ceremony or any residence qualifications, remained valid if promises were made between the couple in front of witnesses. From the 1730s the border settlements of Coldstream Bridge, Lamberton Toll, and most famously Gretna Green, developed local industries in private and rapid marriages for English couples wishing to take advantage of the more flexible Scottish marriage laws, undertaken by individuals who declared themselves marriage priests. This business would expand rapidly after the passage of Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act in 1754, which completely ended irregular marriages in England, but not in Scotland. While among the wealthy,"
"and nineteenth centuries, marriage laws in Scotland encouraged the practice of couples wishing to marry eloping from England to Scotland. With transport less developed, many of these marriages were at Gretna Green, the first Scottish settlement on the main West Coast route from England; hence the term ""Gretna Green marriage"" for marriages transacted in a jurisdiction that was not the residence of the parties being married, to avoid restrictions or procedures imposed by the parties' home jurisdictions. Other Scottish Border villages used for these marriages were Coldstream Bridge, Lamberton Toll (in Lamberton, Berwickshire), Mordington and Paxton Toll. Portpatrick in Wigtownshire"
"hotspot for elopement because it was the village in Scotland nearest to the English border. The marriages were provided by the blacksmith as he was certain to be a citizen of Scotland and was easy to find at the forge. Hugh Mackie purchased the Old Blacksmith's Shop at Gretna Green in 1890 and resided there as ""anvil priest"" until 1926 when he was looking to retire and find a replacement. Mackie found Richard Rennison, who had recently joined the community, and by October 1927, Rennison was presiding over marriages and acting as caretaker of the shop. The shop had ceased"
"requirement was lifted in 1977. Other Scottish border villages used for such marriages were Coldstream Bridge, Lamberton, Mordington and Paxton Toll. Gretna Green Gretna Green is a parish in the southern county of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, and is situated close on the borders of Scotland and England, defined by the small river Sark, which flows into the estuary of the western contiguous Solway Firth. It was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green railway station serves both Gretna Green and Gretna. The Quintinshill rail disaster, the worst rail crash"
"Both are accessed from the A74(M) motorway and are near the border of Scotland with England. Gretna Green is one of the world's most popular wedding destinations, due to its romantic wedding traditions dating back over centuries, which originated from cross-border elopements stemming from differences between Scottish marriage laws and those in neighbouring countries. It has usually been assumed that Gretna's ""runaway marriages"" began in 1754 when Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act came into force in England. Under the Act, if a parent of a person under the age of 21 objected to the minor's marriage, the parent could legally veto"
"and Scotland, the village was described as the Gretna Green for Ireland. There was a daily packet boat from Donaghadee, and marriages for couples from Ireland were conducted by the Church of Scotland minister in Portpatrick, although according to Brack (1997) he often overlooked the rules about the publication of banns or the required period of residence. It's believed that happy couples could disembark, complete the ceremony, and be back on board within an hour. The graveyard around the church contains memorials to many victims of shipwrecks in nearby waters. Joined to the original chapel was a district by the"
"a local farmhouse. The two had to be resident for at least 21 days to be married and so Dibnah agreed to point the gable ends of a local hotel in exchange for bed and board. On 19 May, the two married at the church at Gretna Green and returned to live at Dibnah's mother's house. They later moved into a Victorian gatehouse on the Earl of Bradford's estate, just outside Bolton. Dibnah spent years restoring the property, including building an extension. The house was a listed building and so he had to source appropriately aged bricks for the extension."
"road heading west along the south coast of Scotland from Gretna. Its eastern terminus at Gretna was originally the A74, but this was changed to a junction with the A74(M). The A75 runs past Eastriggs, Annan, Dumfries, Castle Douglas, Gatehouse of Fleet, Newton Stewart and Glenluce before ending in the west at Stranraer. Much of the local economy is driven by the marriage industry, where by some accounts, as many as one of every six Scottish weddings takes place in Gretna / Gretna Green. Most marriages take place in Gretna itself, at the Register office, the Anvil Hall, or in"
"in the pubs. The State Management Scheme persisted for many years after the First World War was long over and the munitions factories dismantled. It was not until the early 1970s, when the low prices and unadulterated beer in the Gretna area began to become conspicuous, that the government enterprise was sold off by the Heath government. Gretna is in Dumfries and Galloway, in the south of Scotland, on the A74(M) near the border to England, and near the mouth of the River Esk. The township is distinct from the smaller nearby village of Gretna Green, famous for marriages, which"
"notice of an impending marriage to the community. As a result, many elopers fled England, and the first Scottish village they reached was often Gretna. With the construction of a new highway, Gretna Green became easier to reach, and Gretna's appeal as an elopement destination waned. The village was notable for HM Factory, Gretna, codenamed ""Moorside"", a huge cordite munitions factory built nearby on the shore of Solway Firth to supply ammunition to British forces during World War I. The factory, the biggest munitions factory ever built, stretched for from Eastriggs along the Solway coast as far as Longtown in"
"known as a wedding facility. Couples who disliked their state’s requirements for publishing their intentions to marry fled to Connecticut. There, Captain Stiles, also a Justice of the Peace, wed them in his tavern. The unions of these run-aways earned Stiles Tavern the celebrated reputation as the “Gretna Green of New England.” When the temperance movement arose in the mid-1830s, Captain Stiles disposed of his liquor, transforming his tavern into a temperance house. After Captain Stiles, several innkeepers owned and managed the inn over the years. Eventually changing from a tavern to a restaurant, the building took on different titles,"
"Richard Rennison Richard Rennison (29 October 1889 – 5 August 1969) was the last ""anvil priest"" at Gretna Green, Scotland. Between 1926 and 1940, he performed ""irregular marriages"" of couples over the anvil at the Old Blacksmith Shop, where the couple proclaimed that they were single and wanted to get married in front of witnesses. As ""anvil priest"", Rennison generally requested a fee of £1, but was known to earn up to £20 for a ceremony (approximately £3,030 in 2012). The popularity of the marriages grew whilst he was performing them, to the point that a special committee was formed"
"invited to their wedding, Dibnah and 19-year-old hairdresser Alison Mary Foster eloped to Gretna Green, to get married. Dibnah had first spotted Alison from the top of a chimney and, when one day she walked into the pub where he was drinking, he asked her out; six weeks later, the two became engaged. They left notes for their parents, caught a train to Carlisle and from there on a series of buses to Dumfries. They had initially planned to stay at the house of a friend but as he had returned to Bolton for his holidays, they stayed instead at"
"Ower Bogie Ower Bogie (i.e. over the River Bogie, near Huntly) was an expression used in Scotland for a wedding conducted by a magistrate, not a clergyman. In Aberdeenshire it was synonymous with a Gretna Green wedding in Dumfriesshire. The Bogie was near the boundary of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. Its origin is unknown, though it is supposed that some accommodating magistrate, at some time or other, resided on the opposite side of the River Bogie from that of the town or village inhabited by the lovers who desired to be joined in the bonds of matrimony without subjecting themselves to"
"""Gretna Greens"". Elkton, being the northeasternmost county seat in Maryland (and thus closer to Philadelphia, New York, and New England), was particularly popular. It was a notorious Gretna Green for years; in its heyday, in the 1920s and 1930s, it was ""the elopement capital of the East Coast"" and thousands of marriages were performed there each year. While some of the marriages obtained in Elkton were of celebrities or celebrities-to-be (Cornel Wilde, Joan Fontaine, Debbie Reynolds, Martha Raye, John and Martha Mitchell, Willie Mays, and Pat Robertson all got married in Elkton), the overall tawdry flavor grew to be too"
"he was unable to complete the job, a newcomer to the area, Colonel George Gill Green, took over the construction and finished the Green Hotel, which opened in 1888. Green was a friend of Andrew McNally, a prominent printer from Chicago who had moved West and made his home in Altadena, California. McNally had invited Green to come out and join him in this new community. Together Green and McNally invested heavily in the short-lived Altadena Railroad, which provided them private sidings at their residences and which Green rode daily to the construction site of his new hotel. Green and"
"who claimed to have spoken to Turner and got his agreement to the marriage. Ellen finally consented and the Wakefields took her over the border of Scotland to Gretna Green, a favoured place of elopement for those who wanted to exploit the less strict marriage laws of Scotland. There Ellen and Edward were married by blacksmith David Laing. They returned to Carlisle, where Ellen said she wanted to see her father. Wakefield agreed to take her to Shrigley, but instead took her to Leeds. Wakefield then claimed he had a meeting in Paris that he could not postpone, and had"
"the sometimes inconvenient interrogations of the kirk. John Jamieson erroneously quotes the phrase as ""ower boggie"". Ower Bogie Ower Bogie (i.e. over the River Bogie, near Huntly) was an expression used in Scotland for a wedding conducted by a magistrate, not a clergyman. In Aberdeenshire it was synonymous with a Gretna Green wedding in Dumfriesshire. The Bogie was near the boundary of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. Its origin is unknown, though it is supposed that some accommodating magistrate, at some time or other, resided on the opposite side of the River Bogie from that of the town or village inhabited by"
"to the technology of the period, Archibald Gardner's gristmills were ""built without nails. Wooden pins and mortises were used instead. All shafts, bearings, cog wheels, etc. were of wood..."" Gristmills often formed the economic center of a community, producing flour to bake bread. The gristmill area was on a hill that faces Alvinston. The area was called Gardner's Mill for several years. Archibald also built a saw mill in this area to produce shingles. On February 18, 1839, Archibald Gardner married Margaret Livingston in Brooke. Archibald Gardner was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in"
"Gretna Green Gretna Green is a parish in the southern county of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, and is situated close on the borders of Scotland and England, defined by the small river Sark, which flows into the estuary of the western contiguous Solway Firth. It was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green railway station serves both Gretna Green and Gretna. The Quintinshill rail disaster, the worst rail crash in British history (226 recorded deaths), occurred near Gretna Green in 1915. Gretna Green sits alongside the main town of Gretna."
"This was at a time when wedding ceremonies were closely controlled by the church and state. It is likely that many of the marriages of couples from elsewhere went against the consent of close relatives. The number of weddings at the parish church increased substantially compared to earlier and later times and the village earned the later nickname of the Gretna Green of the Midlands. When the church was founded the main road from Leicester to Melton Mowbray passed through the village, entering from Hoby with Rotherby to the south and leaving by Kirby Bellars to the north. The village"
"land became built up piecemeal with houses, built by a number of sub-lessees. Many of the streets were named after Nichol, and by 1827 the estate consisted of 237 houses. Henry Mayhew visited Bethnal Green in 1850, and noted for ""The Morning Chronicle"" the trades in the area: tailors, costermongers, shoemakers, dustmen, sawyers, carpenters, cabinet makers and silkweavers. In the area, it was noted: Roads were unmade, often mere alleys, houses small and without foundations, subdivided and often around unpaved courts. An almost total lack of drainage and sewerage was made worse by the ponds formed by the excavation of"
"led to the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1939, which outlawed the process of ""irregular marriages"". When the new law came into force in 1940, Rennison had performed 5,147 marriages. His role then changed to a symbolic one, ""blessing"" marriages and acting as caretaker of the forge. He also regularly appeared at court to ensure the marriages he performed were judicially recognised. Richard Rennison Richard Rennison (29 October 1889 – 5 August 1969) was the last ""anvil priest"" at Gretna Green, Scotland. Between 1926 and 1940, he performed ""irregular marriages"" of couples over the anvil at the Old Blacksmith Shop, where the"
"or titles of their parents. For historical reasons, the Act did not apply in Scotland. Consequently, until 1940, it continued to be enough in Scotland for a man and a woman to pledge their commitment to each other in front of witnesses to legalise their marriage. This led to an industry of ""fast marriages"" in Scottish towns on the border with England; the town of Gretna Green was particularly well known for this. In 1836, the requirement that the ceremony take place in a religious forum was removed, and registrars were given the authority to register marriages not conducted by"
"on the bridge commemorates the 1787 visit of the poet Robert Burns to the Coldstream. Of historical note is the toll house on the Scottish side of the bridge, which became infamous for the runaway marriages that took place there, as at Gretna Green, hence its name, the 'Wedding House' or 'Marriage House'. It ceased to be a toll bridge in 1826. The Coldstream Bridge 'that part in England' (Northumberland) was Grade II* listed in 1952, being described in the English Heritage listing as ""an ambitious, well-proportioned, and carefully-detailed C18 bridge design."" The Coldstream Bridge '(that part in Scotland) over"
"Turner, the Shrigley abduction. Other motives for ""Gretna"" marriages were to avoid publicity or to marry immediately. In 1856, Scottish law was changed to require 21 days' residence for marriage, and since 1929 both parties have had to be at least 16 years old (though there is still no parental consent needed). A further law change was made in 1940 to abolish these irregular ""marriages by declaration"". The residential requirement was lifted in 1977. Gretna Green remains a favoured location for marriage because of its romantic associations, with Dumfries and Galloway (the council area containing Gretna Green) the most popular"
"close as it was still working in the 1950s. The area around the dam has been upgraded for recreational use with a small car park and bench seating. The dam is popular with anglers and has a large colony of waterfowl. Located close to Malin Bridge, the forge dates back to 1628 when it was known for iron smelting and bar production. However the forge became world-famous for producing anvils which were greatly commended and won a gold medal at The Great Exhibition of 1851. It is said that the anvil at Gretna Green was made by the Mousehole Forge."
"(as he put it) ""just a lot of men in duffel coats wandering up and down the High Street"", while another ""Eye"" journalist Paul Foot, not known for hyperbole, described Candida as ""the most beautiful woman in Oxford"". On 25 May 1963, Candida Betjeman married Rupert Lycett Green, a rising figure in the tailoring business, whose shop Blades opened first in Dover Street, London and later in Savile Row. His particular kind of entrepreneurship was said at the time to ""typify the revolt of the upper class young"". The couple had five children. During the ""swinging"" sixties the Lycett Green"
"in 1619, possibly to facilitate the transportation of cattle from Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire to markets in England. Gretna's principal claim to fame arose in 1753 when an Act of Parliament, ""Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act"", was passed in England, which provided, among other things, that if both parties to a marriage were not at least 21 years old, consent to the marriage had to be given by the parents. This Act did not apply in Scotland, which allowed boys to marry at 14 and girls at 12, with or without parental consent. In addition, the Act required procedures that gave"
"Scotland, was notorious for its irregular marriages. From 1798 to 1858 keepers of the Toll, as well as questionable men-of-the-cloth used to marry couples in the same fashion as at the more familiar Gretna Green. The site of the house is marked by a plaque. Lamberton today consists largely of smallholdings compulsorily purchased, under an Act of Parliament, from the last Campbell-Renton laird, to provide a living for soldiers returning from The Great War. However, the land was not suited to crops, the holdings were too small for anything other than subsistence living, and today the original holdings are generally"
"village of Graitney led to Gretna Green becoming synonymous with romantic elopements. A similar traffic to the Isle of Man also sprang up, and in 1757 the Legislature of the Island passed ""an Act to prevent Clandestine Marriages"" in very similar terms to the English Act of 1753. But the Manx Act differed in one significant respect from the latter, in requiring clergy from abroad, who were convicted of conducting marriages in breach of the Act's requirements, to be pilloried and have their ears cropped, before being imprisoned, fined and deported. The Act was repealed in 1849. Modern commentators, after"